Budget Debate: Is Anyone Listening To State Residents?

February 05, 2003|By Michele Jacklin Michele Jacklin is The Courant's political columnist. Her column appears every Wednesday and Sunday. To leave her a comment, please call 860-241-3163.

Readers of America's oldest continuously published newspaper had to wait an extra day and comb through the paper's Connecticut section last week to discover what was billed as a major development in virtually every other part of the state:

That a decisive majority of residents favor raising the personal income tax to help close the ever-widening budget gap. A new University of Connecticut poll found that 57 percent of state residents would go so far as to support an across-the-board 1 percentage point hike in the 4.5 percent rate.

As a journalist who's analyzed and written about dozens of UConn polls over the years, I'd say that's a remarkable finding (and many news organizations apparently thought so as well). A majority of state residents understand that some combination of tax increases and spending cuts are necessary to dig the state out of its fiscal hole.

That proposition will almost certainly be tested -- sooner rather than later. As this op-ed page went to press Tuesday night, lawmakers were discussing whether to vote on a proposal that would raise tax rates on households with income as low as $100,000. Reportedly, Gov. John G. Rowland had signaled his openness to signing such a package. That's an important breakthrough.

State residents deserve credit for being more sophisticated in their thinking than elected officials and more mindful of the consequences of inaction. This would be laughable if not for one fact: We're counting on our elected officials to get us through this mess.

The public has been saying it's willing to step up to the plate and do its part, even as Rowland has carried out his vendetta against state workers, as Democrats dithered and as Republicans behaved as though they're wax statues at Madame Tussaud's.

For the most part, paralysis has reigned supreme at the Capitol. GOP legislators have refused to entertain the prospect of higher taxes because they think just saying no is their ticket to majority-party status in the November 2004 elections. Conversely, Democrats live in fear of being tarred as tax-and-spend liberals and driven from office.

Profiles in courage they haven't been. Nor have they been profiles in fiscal responsibility. The public recognizes that. Rowland's job-approval ratings have plummeted to their lowest point since he's been governor. Only 31 percent of respondents surveyed by UConn rank his performance as ``excellent'' or ``good,'' compared with 22 percent who say ``fair'' and a staggering 43 percent who say ``poor.'' The poll of 512 residents was conducted Jan. 27-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

For Rowland, whose performance ratings have been in the stratosphere during most of his tenure, the picture only gets worse. One in five residents believes he's done an excellent or good job in dealing with the budget crisis; three in four say fair or poor. (One is left to wonder whether Bill Curry would be governor today if state officials had been honest with voters prior to Nov. 5.)

Although it hardly seems possible, legislators and union officials can be found a couple of rungs down the public-opinion ladder. Only 13 percent give the legislature an excellent/good rating in connection with the budget, while union officials rate a 17 percent score.

Despite the public's misgivings about union leaders, two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the massive layoffs ordered by Rowland, while an identical percentage favor the idea of state employee givebacks.

Meanwhile, 83 percent of the respondents say they've followed the budget developments, and most want the problems resolved while there's still something left of government to salvage.

To be sure, the public wants cuts in services, but not to the point of disemboweling state government. In terms of taxes, 79 percent support an income-tax hike on multimillionaires; 78 percent on millionaires; 76 percent on income over $500,000; 75 percent on income over $250,000; 74 percent on income over $100,000; and 55 percent on income over $50,000.

The most intriguing response -- and the one largely overlooked by the pundits and public officials -- is the 57 percent who say they would support a 1 percentage point across-the-board increase in the income tax rate to help balance the budget.

That type of selflessness is what has contributed to Connecticut's reputation as a great place to live, do business, receive an education and all the rest.